Rian Johnson explains why making Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery scared him more than Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Following his venture to the galaxy far, far away, Johnson helmed 2019's Knives Out, an acclaimed murder-mystery starring Daniel Craig as detective Benoit Blanc. The film was a massive success, as Knives Out grossed $311.6 million worldwide and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Johnson then secured a lucrative deal with Netflix to make two Knives Out sequels, with Glass Onion hitting the streamer this holiday season.
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Netflix paid $450 million for the Knives Out sequel rights. That sizable investment, coupled with the goodwill generated from the original movie, means Glass Onion is arriving with considerably higher expectations than its predecessor. Bolstered by Johnson's sharp filmmaking and a talented ensemble cast, Knives Out pleasantly surprised viewers when it came out. Now, it's an established property with a large fan base. That shift had an impact on Johnson as he worked on Glass Onion.
In an interview with LA Times, Johnson compared his experiences making Glass Onion and his other sequel, The Last Jedi. He admitted the former was scarier for him. Check out his comments in the space below:
No, it’s a very different animal for a couple reasons. First of all, Last Jedi was actually a proper sequel, continuing the events from a movie that I didn’t write. With this, first of all, it’s not even really a sequel, it’s kind of like another book, basically another mystery with the same detective. If anything, going into it was a little scarier even than the Star Wars movie, because the first one, when we made it, it was in such a vacuum and we had no idea if people would be into this kind of thing. Genuinely, it was just something that I really loved, a genre I loved, and I’m like, “Let’s try this.”
And then the fact that people enjoyed it and the fact that it was popular — when you put something out there, this happens anyway, but especially, I think, in this case — it becomes something outside of you and you kind of forget how you made it. And so, it was scary. I’ve never experienced nerves quite like actually sitting down to write something. I also spent 10 years planning Knives Out, whereas this, I was kind of starting from scratch.
While making a Star Wars movie is a daunting task, Johnson seemed aware there was a large group of people who are "into this kind of thing," as the franchise has a global fan base. He knew The Last Jedi would reach a wide audience, something that wasn't guaranteed with original IP Knives Out. While Johnson certainly hoped Knives Out would connect with viewers, he perhaps was taken aback by how enthusiastically it was received. On Glass Onion, he could have felt pressure to prove the first Knives Out wasn't a fluke and this property can be a sustained series that could continue for years to come.
Fortunately, it sounds like Johnson has another hit on his hands. Glass Onion earned rave reviews after its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, with some claiming it's even better than the first Knives Out. With that word-of-mouth, Glass Onion is bound to be a huge draw on Netflix in December, especially since it's already one of the most-anticipated movies for the remainder of the year. Hopefully, the response to Glass Onion: A Knives Out mystery calms Johnson's nerves, and when he sits down to figure out Knives Out 3, he'll know that there is a built-in audience eager to see what's next.